Here’s Why We’re Building a Franchise Together
P3 Cost Analysts / Franchising / January 18, 2022
By Chuck Moyer & Henry Russo, P3 Cost Analysts Franchisees
Entrepreneurs are often unfairly labeled as single-minded individualists who struggle to work with other people. While this characterization is accurate in some instances, American economic history is filled with examples of successful business partnerships. For every Steve Jobs or Elon Musk, you’ll also find household names like William Proctor and James Gamble or technological game-changers like Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
As it turns out, many entrepreneurs find more success when they work alongside similarly motivated and talented people. That’s certainly a lesson we’ve learned firsthand in our franchise partnership journey.
Before we became partners in our P3 Cost Analysts franchise, we were partners in life, which gave us the benefit of understanding our individual strengths and weaknesses before embarking on a new business venture. Chuck spent his career as a private equity executive before retiring a couple of years ago. Henry is a trained attorney who worked in mergers and acquisitions for several years before leaving the profession to pursue his entrepreneurial dreams. Together we wanted to build a business that gave us the lifestyle and flexibility we desired, free from the responsibility of developing and leading a large team.
We considered several different business possibilities before ultimately choosing P3 Cost Analysts. The choice was clear when we learned about the company’s value proposition. We both had experience in our previous careers dealing with large vendor contracts that we mistakenly believed carried set costs, like garbage, telecom systems and uniforms. When we learned how P3 Cost Analysts could help save companies hundreds of thousands of dollars on these types of contracts, we knew we could offer our customers a service with tremendous added value. As we began building our franchise, the benefits of working with a partner became immediately clear.
One of the most significant benefits of a partnership is the support we can provide each other. That’s critical as we learn about running a franchise business. Even though we both have extensive business experience, in this new endeavor there’s a learning curve to key elements such as networking, business development, pitching, and customer onboarding. While we navigate this sometimes challenging process, we can lean on each other. Having an outlet to talk through strategies and direction is so valuable and often gives us the energy we need to tackle whatever the day brings. We can also provide each other with instant feedback or coaching for sales calls and customer interactions, and we can share new ideas as they come. For us, a partnership helps give us the confidence we need to pursue this business venture, which could be a greater challenge if we were doing it alone.
Along with support, partnerships also bring healthy accountability. We’re selling a service that most people don’t know they need, which means nobody’s chasing us for our business. We have to be completely proactive in pursuing, selling, and onboarding our customers to achieve success. It’s much harder to procrastinate or avoid difficult tasks when you work with a partner who will notice it immediately. Ultimately, that accountability and commitment to each other pushes us harder to achieve our goals.
Working as a twosome also enables us to divide our work based on who will achieve the best results. While business development is a shared responsibility, we both have unique skill sets that complement each other. In Henry’s previous work as an attorney, he reviewed and drafted contracts; so he handles those aspects of the business. Meanwhile, Chuck uses his executive experience to connect with decision-makers and share his first-hand experience dealing with problematic vendor contracts.
Our favorite component of our franchise partnership is the sense of achievement we share. Before we began this journey, we established clear goals. One of the top ones was to go into a business where we could focus on adding value for our clients coupled with plenty of flexibility rather than having to manage a staff.
As we pursue that goal and others, along the way we’re enhancing our business skills as we learn about industries and professions that are new to us. It’s hard to describe how satisfying it is to achieve milestones with a partner who’s equally invested in the outcomes. And, together, we’re motivated to continue reaching toward even greater success.
In the near term, we’re focused on growing our business, delivering significant savings to our clients, and developing a healthy income stream that supports our lifestyle and gives us the flexibility we want to best enjoy our lives. Neither of us aspires to be the next Page or Brin or even Proctor and Gamble. However, we believe that by working together, we’ll accomplish our goals much faster and gain more satisfaction in the process than if either of us were working on our own. In our books, that makes this partnership a resounding success.
